Children welcome increase budget allocation on health, education

New Delhi, Mar 2 (UNI) Welcoming the increase in the budget allocation for education and health, Wada Na Todo Abhiyan, a movement of children demanding about 9 per cent of GDP on the two sector, said the centre should now enable states to increase their expenditure in these areas affecting children.

The budget has increased allocation on education by 34.2 per cent and on health by 21.9 per cent which was a significant and a much-needed step in the right direction, the WNTA, which had launched a children's campaign 'Nine is Mine' in 14 states demanding that 9 per cent of GDP be spent on health and education.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too has gone on record saying that Education and health care is the prime focus of this budget, and has reaffirmed the government's commitment to investing in social infrastructure.

''We are particularly happy to note the emphasis on resources for elementary education, educational support to students from marginalised and minorities group , and increased allocations for the National Rural Health Mission&ICDS programme. We also note the additional resources to bring 130 more districts within the NREGA and the increased allocation for Dalits, adivasis and women,'' said Lysa John, National Coordinator of WNTA.

However, the government has still not taken the critical steps required to meet the commitment for expenditure proportionate to 6 per cent GDP for Education and 3 per cent GDP for Health. The challenge for the government is to increase its allocation to the states for Health&Education - if it is to keep its promise of 9 per cent GDP for Health&Education this year. The centre should accordingly enable the states to increase their expenditure through its Plan and Non-Plan allocations.

The budget has made a provision of Rs 20,000 crore for Elementary Education and said 200,000 more teachers be employed and 500,000 more classrooms would be constructed. An allocation of Rs 6000 per child through a National Means-cum-Merit scholarship would be done.

The SC/ST scholarships has been enhanced from Rs 440 crore to Rs.

611 crore while minorities students would get schoarlships worth Rs.

72 crore for pre-metric and Rs 48 crore for graduate and post-graduate courses.

The allocation for the National Rural Health Mission has also been increased from Rs 8207 crore to Rs 9947 crore. Further, Rs.

1290 crore to be provided for elimination of polio, and integrated into NRHM. The allocation for ICDS has been increased from Rs. 4087 crore to Rs 4761 crore.

Allocation of Rs 12,000 crore has been made for the National Rura Employment Guarantee Scheme while Rs 800 crore for Sampoorna Gram Yozgar Yojana in districts not covered by NREGA. The allocation for schemes only for SCs and STs has also been increased to Rs3271 crore.

UNI